Trying to stick out is good. I love to program... haven't looked back. Great. Do you remember... never had a moment of doubt about my career. Unnecessar

Trying to stick out is good. I love to program... haven't looked back. Great. Do you remember... never had a moment of doubt about my career. Unnecessary and arrogant. Why do you assume the person reading your cover letter has been in a CS class in the first place? Lots of programmers didn't go to school for it and lots of people who make hiring decisions aren't programmers. To me there is nothing more gratifying... Not really saying much new. I'm a realist and I understand... I don't care. "Your field of work is boring, but I can deal with that" is not the message you want to convey. You should show interest in a company you are asking for employment. Give me a problem... Fine, but nothing you haven't already said. I love Linux... Geek cred, no problem there. I program for profit... Several possible readings, none of them good. Why do you assume the company only programs in "boring" languages? If they do use Java, why do you feel the need to tell them you disapprove, but will suffer for the sake of cash. Unfortunately, this letter does not make you sound like someone I would like to work with. I think you can find a better way to make your cover letter stand out. The thoughts you are trying to convey (hard worker, willingness to dig deep) are good. I just think you can do a better job of saying them in a way that sounds good to someone making a hiring decision.